26

"Remember," I shouted, "This is a rescue mission. We don't have time to take prisoners, and we don't have time to give mercy. We are here for one thing, and one thing only. We are heading through that portal to take back the human prisoners that were taken from this world. If we happen to rescue a few extra slaves then so be it."

It was before dawn on our world, and the only light was the glow of the mana lanterns that Letty had made while I was sleeping during the last year. The hollow mountain glowed behind us with the dim light of the lanterns. Giving us just enough soft light for us to see our way clearly in the moonless night. Many of our team nodded seriously. They all knew the stakes of this mission, and that we wouldn't be returning at all if we failed.

"First we secure the compound on the other side to secure a foothold on the elven world," I quieted my voice in preparation to open the portal, "From there we move to our main objective."

That was the forth time I'd confirmed our objective tonight. I was getting a little tired of repeating myself, but there could be anything on the other side of this gate, and the average elven child could do far more damage than the average human. We were at a disadvantage. I was the only real trump card we had at the moment, and I could only do so much. I opened the gateway, and we rushed through to an unknown world.

I drew my short swords as soon as we were through the portal. Much of the courtyard we'd just rushed into was empty, but there were still half a dozen guards in the area. I could feel the support of earth leave me as soon as I set foot on the foreign soil, but I couldn't afford to slow down. I adjusted in just three long strides as I crossed the courtyard to my first opponent. His head came off in a single swing of my poisoned blade.

Even if I'd missed a vital point he wouldn't have live long enough to complain as acid burned at the cut. Turning it from a perfect clean cut to a festering, putrid mess in just a few short breaths of time. The second guard I turned my eyes to saw me coming, but wasn't able to get his blade up in time as I sliced diagonally through his torso. My spatial awareness alerted me of everything in the surrounding mile. I put half of my focus on isolating this entire area to stop anyone from escaping.

The third guard had enough time to attempt to strike me. I caught his blade with my own, and lashed out with a concentrated burst of dark mana. Instantly eating away at the flesh it touched. Leaving him screaming, and writhing as the armor, and all the skin in the path of my darkness was eaten away. Now the entire household was aware of us.

Not that it would do them any good since I had already isolated the entire area, and ceased control of all the mana within it. A fourth guard rushed me assuming correctly that if I fell the rest would fall as well. He swung his blade down as hard as he could, and it struck me on top of my head. Unfortunately for him I'd taken control over all the mana in the area. His sword didn't have any of its enchantments to rely on.

Without its enchantments his sword was nothing more than a hunk of metal, and a hunk of ordinary metal couldn't put so much as a scratch on me. I barely even felt the full strength swing as it struck my head. Cracking the ground beneath my feet. A flick of my wrist, and his entire sword arm flew off. A quick jab through the heart, and he was dying before he even realized that his arm was gone.

The eleven that had followed me through the portal had managed to subdue the last two on their own with on a few minor injuries. It wasn't difficult for me to heal them as I scanned through the rest of the building for any other guards with my spatial awareness. To the others it seemed as if I'd only stilled for a few seconds, but seeing me so still after how quickly I'd dispatched four elves with one screaming as he died at my feet was no doubt a disturbing visage.

"Archers," I pointed up to the second story of the building, "Defend yourselves."

I basically ignored the first volley as it bounced off of me harmlessly. Various barriers appeared around the humans that followed me through the portal.

"Keep the portal secured," I shouted in English before switching to fluent elvish, "Those who wish to surrender should do so now. If you still hold a weapon when I reach you then I will grant no mercy."

I waited a few seconds. Shielding my eyes from the arrows as they bounced off of me. Sure they couldn't harm me, but that didn't mean it was any less annoying to get something in my eye. That was plenty of time for them to surrender. I thought to myself with slight annoyance at the arrows that still rained down on me.

My foot dug into the cobblestone as I launched myself through the front doors of the first floor with a single bound. The wood held pretty well as my body slammed a person sized hole right through. The surprise on the faces of the elves that had been barring the door was humorous, and the scent of their fear sent a carnal sense of delight through me as I expertly blocked their blades, and started cutting them down. Elves really weren't much of a problem when you took all their mana away. Without their mana they were nothing more then unusually strong humans.